


so let's sink another drink, cause it'll give me time to think

by alchemystique



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1488232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemystique/pseuds/alchemystique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s nice, to be able to settle back and think on Before, without letting the absolute despair of After drag them under. Not that his Before had been a fairytale. No one mentions the fact that Daryl never joins them for their “I miss” games. It’s a sad testament to his own life that these are some of his best memories. (Vague implications of pre-bethyl, beginnings of Zach/Beth)</p>
            </blockquote>





	so let's sink another drink, cause it'll give me time to think

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one-shot of missing scenes that's been rattling around in my brain the last few days. This is placed somewhere in the time between the end of S3 and the beginning of S4. I really liked the whole dynamic between Zach, Daryl, and Beth and wanted to explore it, and I also wanted to address some of my feelings on Hershel and Daryl. This may come off as slightly OOC for Daryl, but going back and rewatching 4A I noticed a lot of things about Daryl's behavior with the group I'd forgotten about and those behaviors informed a lot of this story. So. Hope you enjoy!!

**so lets sink another drink, cause it'll give me time to think**

 

“I miss _ice cream_ ,” Maggie says, and they all sigh around their cuts of venison. The night is quiet, a calm peacefulness washing over the prison as they all circle around the small fire outside, not a walker in sight outside the fences, the din of quiet conversations littering the field as a few other groups enjoy the night as well. It’s weird, to see so many people around, to see the little garden they’ve got going and to feel the warm gazes he’d gotten earlier as Carol handed out food to the people living with them now, people he’s brought in, people who think he’s some sort of important.

 

It’s weird.

 

“I miss my iPod,” Glenn tells them on a grin, chuckling as Rick digs into a pocket for the beat up old thing they’ve been taking it in turns sharing. Glenn waves his hand dismissively and they all eat silently for a while, listing off random things at odd intervals.

 

It’s nice, to be able to settle back and think on Before, without letting the absolute despair of After drag them under. Not that his Before had been a fairytale. No one mentions the fact that Daryl never joins them for their “I miss” games. It’s a sad testament to his own life that these are some of his best memories.

 

Glenn eventually coaxes Zach into playing a few songs on his guitar, and the boy strums softly, fingers dancing over the strings through maudlin tunes Daryl doesn’t recognize.

 

“I miss _dancin’_ ,” Beth mutters from across the fire, and the group smiles at her, somewhere between patronizing and regretful. Something about the looks sets his teeth on edge - she’s just a _girl_ , stuck in this world where makeup is pointless and ratty, greasy braids count as hairdos and the girl never even finished fuckin’ _high school_. She’d probably had dreams about goin’ to _prom_ with some handsy asshole, gettin’ all gussied up with her friends and taking half a million pictures, dancing til her feet her and then sneaking off to canoodle with whatever lucky teenager she thought was worth her time.

 

Hell, its not something he remembers caring a lick about, but she had, and even her sister is giving her a strange look about it, like it’s a silly thing to miss. (Because _ice cream_ is so much better.)

 

Christ knows why, but it irks him. Beth’s weak, and a bit too bright and sunny to have any place in this world, but she pulls her weight, and she doesn’t bitch and complain about her lot in life. The rest of the group coddles the shit out of her, but they don’t really encourage her happiness either.

 

Rick’s eyes follow him as he stands, setting down his bowl and licking his fingers clean as he swings around the fire to hold out a hand to Beth.

 

“C’mon.”

 

She’s looking at him like he’s crazy (he is), staring at his hand like it’s a fuckin’ _Walker_ about to take a bit, and he rolls his shoulders back, hand still held out, palm up.

 

Zach stops playing. 

 

“What?” she asks, all daintily confused, and he can feel the whole group eyeing him, Maggie and Glenn and Hershel and Rick. _These are his people_ he sometimes has to remind himself, and they’ve all been there for the best and the worst of him, so throwing himself out there for a couple minutes in an effort to make Hershel’s youngest smile shouldn’t be too much for them to handle. 

 

“I ain’t offerin’ twice, Greene,” he says, thankful its too dark out to see the way the back of his neck is heating up bright red.

 

“Are you serious?” she asks, setting her own bowl down, and her fork clatters noisily against the bowl as it falls into the grass.

 

He gives her his best _don’t test me girl_ look and lets his head jerk forward in a quick nod.

 

She’s already smiling before she reaches forward to curl her fingers against his, and he yanks her up, maybe a little too forcefully, shooting a look over his shoulder at the new kid, who’s eyeing them both suspiciously.

 

“Play somethin’ don’t make me want to shoot my brains out, huh?”

 

He doesn’t wait for a response, and instead tries to ignore the hush that’s fallen over the group as he takes a few steps back, outta the circle. Her fingers are freezing, curled against his palm, but she lets out a delighted shriek when he spins her out behind him, swinging her under his arm with Hershel’s bark of laughter echoing beyond the fire.

 

Zach kicks up a song a moment later, so Daryl spins her back around, amused to note her face has gone beet red under the sudden focused attention of their little family, and Maggie must recognize the song, because a moment later she starts singing along.

 

He ain’t the most graceful person in the world, and she’s too embarrassed to get it perfect, but he can still remember all the steps his ma’d taught him, standing on her toes in their crappy living room while he dad was out on a bender, and he has to fight the smile creeping up on his own face as Beth’s bright laughter tinkles across the night air.

 

The rest really get into it, after a few tense moments he’s pretty sure they all think they’ve gone crazy (Daryl Dixon voluntarily _dancin’_ they’ve all lost their minds), singing along in tone deaf merriment - Glenn and Hershel are clapping to the beat, and Carl’s got his sister bouncing up and down in his lap. The steps are messy, the timing off, the song is _ridiculous_ but as it draws to a close Beth’s hand tightens in his own, and she lets out another whoop of laughter as he spins her out, pulls her back in and _dips_ , blonde hair fanning out as his arm curls around her back and the group around the fire breaks into broken applause.

 

Her eyes glitter bright and happy against the firelight, and Maggie stops singing, the group behind them still laughing as she shoots him a wide grin upon being pulled back up. There’s a sort of breathlessness in her gaze he chalks up to being swung around the yard, but their eyes catch and hold for a second too long before she drops his hand, head ducked low as she steps back. “Thanks,” she says, voice soft and low, and Daryl shrugs.

 

They both return to their seats around the fire without another word, the group going quiet even though he can tell they all got something to say.

 

“I got it,” says Zach, finger pointed in Daryl’s general direction, and Daryl rolls his eyes as he digs back into his meal.

 

“You’re wastin’ your time, boy.”

 

“I’m _gonna_ get it one of these days, you know that, right?”

 

Daryl hums. “Well. Go on. Guess away.”

 

“ _Dance instructor._ ”

 

Everyone around the fire breaks into fits of laughter, Daryl grinning around his fingers, Glenn next to him yakking it up so much he’s wheezing, hand slapping at his thigh like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard, but Zach just shrugs.

 

“It was a long shot.”

 

Glenn just laughs harder, as the group settles peacefully back into their meals, and it’s somethin’, really, that after so long living on the outskirts of the group they don’t even shoot him funny looks over his little dancing stunt. It’s somethin’. 

 

\------

 

“So, uh...you and Beth. You got a thing goin’?”

 

They’re in the middle of a pharmacy, rifling through expired packages of drugs, on opposite sides of the shelves as they go down Hershel’s list, and Daryl shoots the kid a look that’d cow anyone else into silence, but not Zach. Zach just shrugs, the picture of nonchalance. The kid likes to talk - hell, sometimes Daryl _thinks_ in Zach’s voice after spending the whole day with him, and the kids not even kind of afraid of Daryl.

 

“I just mean - you guys seem close.”

 

“She’s _family_. Been with us almost since the beginning.”

 

“Right, but, like - close, close.”

 

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

 

He hears a paper bag crumpling and then a muted ‘yes’ from the other side of the shelf. “I don’t know. You guys aren’t going steady, or nothing?”

 

“Jesus - _goin’ steady_? How old do you think I am? How old are _you_?” He snorts. “Goin’ steady. Christ.”

 

“Well, you don’t gotta be an ass about it, I was just asking a question.”

 

“ _Why_?”

 

He goes silent across the way, and Daryl hears him shifting bottles around.

 

“You better watch that crush, man. Hershel might have a gimp leg but he’s still a helluva shot.”

 

“I’m not - it’s not -.” Zach’s head pops up and he shrugs helplessly. “She’s just so damn _cute_ , you know? And those legs, Jesus, like a fucking gazelle, I could just -.”

 

“I’m an even better shot, dumbass,” he mutters, just to stop him talking, but the rising protectiveness feels foreign in a way he doesn’t understand. It this what it feels like to have a sister?

 

“Right. Not - yeah, no, I get it.”

 

“You get _what_?”

 

“You like her. That’s cool. I mean, you’re like, the big kahuna around here, anyway, so of course -.”

 

“Jesus Christ, Zach, stop talking. What the hell? I’m twice her damn age.”

 

“...uh...so?” When Daryl stares him down, Zach shrugs again. “It’s the end of the damn world, Daryl, I’m not sure that matters anymore.”

 

“It ain’t like that. I’m just telling you now, she’s _kin_. We don’t take kindly to any funny business.”

 

He feels oddly like he’s just given the man his _blessing_ , which is not at all what he meant to do and fucking ridiculous to boot - he ain’t no one’s keeper, and he sure as hell ain’t Beth’s daddy.

 

“Right. Duh. No way, man, Beth is...well. You know.”

 

He grunts, ready for this conversation to be _over_ , but he’s rarely ever been that lucky.

 

“I mean. Do you think she’d like me?”

 

“I swear to Christ, man -.”

 

“Look, it’s not like there’s a whole lot of people I can talk to about this.”

 

“So _don’t_.”

 

Zach laughs, flipping through another basket. “We can’t all be taciturn and badass like Daryl Dixon. I’m just - I mean, she’s what, seventeen? Eighteen? I was supposed to be graduating college, when everything went to shit.”

 

“You just told you you thought _I_ was with her. Now you’re too old?”

 

“Nah, man, it’s different. You guys all have history together. You’re like, provider and protector, got a spot on the council and all. Plus, I mean, the bike and the crossbow and the…” Zach makes a vague gesture at Daryl. “And Hershel and Rick think you’re the bees knees, so. I’m just some dumb college kid who survived out of sheer stupidity.”

 

Daryl just hums to himself. The kids an awful shot, but he’s seen him take down four walkers in the span of a few seconds with nothing but a knife and a steel toed boot, so he’s not helpless.

 

“Maybe, if you put in a word for me, she might -.”

 

“Christ, I’m not your fuckin wingman. Beth’s a big girl, she can make up her own damn mind. Just _talk_ to her or something, Jesus. And leave me the hell out of it.”

 

\------

 

“You know, I always thought the end of the world would make it harder for my girls to find ways to make me anxious,” Hershel says, glancing down at Beth where she’s cradling Judith and blushing to the roots of her hair while Zach croons a her, fingers strumming the strings of his guitar.

 

Daryl grunts.

 

“What do you think of this Zach person? You’ve spent more time with him than the rest of us have.”

 

“He ain’t a bad kid. Hell, he came to me, thinkin’ me and Beth were…” Hershel shoots him a strange look, eyebrow up and a curl to his lip, and Daryl regrets ever mentioning it. Why had he mentioned it?

 

The older man chuckles softly, hand on Daryl’s shoulder as he pats it quickly. “You should have told him you were. Could have scared off all number of suitors. Hell, if it ever happened at least I’d know she was taken care of.”

 

Daryl can feel his skin prickle around the words, even as Hershel’s calm acceptance of the idea of _Daryl and Beth_ sinks in. “Don’t gotta be smitten with the girl to watch out for her,” he tells the man, curiously uncomfortable with the direction this conversation has gone. 

 

“I’m aware.”

 

“Beth’s gonna do whatever the hell she feel like doin’ unless she thinks it’s gonna cause a fuss. She likes him, she likes him. I don’t think we gotta worry too much about Zach.”

 

Hershel hums beside him, watching his daughter and Judi as Zach continues to sing softly. “Still. I’d almost prefer you for a son-in-law, if that’s where we’re headed with my little Beth.”

He slaps Daryl on the back in amusement when he chokes on his tongue.


End file.
